Pescatarian Restaurant The Vine Captures Peterborough DBIA Mac + Cheese Champion Title

One Downtown Business Improvement Area (DBIA) title was not enough for The Vine as they have been crowned the Mac + Cheese Champion from the month-long Peterborough Mac + Cheese Festival.

This is the second DBIA food/drink title for the Vine less than one year in business. Photo courtesy of the Peterborough DBIA.

This win is fresh off The Vine’s Caeser Fest crown back in August, less than a year after the pescatarian restaurant’s opening with their Kimchi Mac and Cheese.

“There’s no right or wrong way to make a mac and cheese and I think that's what makes this festival so special. The variety of flavour profiles you see in all the dishes are all unique and cater to different palettes. As a chef you can go traditional, or jazz it up and make it as crazy as you want,” said Tyrone Flowers, The Vine co-owner. “We’re so pumped to win and the thing is, mac and cheese is the ultimate comfort food and that’s what we specialize in here, so we are really proud to be recognized for that especially being a new business in the downtown.”

The Vine’s Kimchi Mac and Cheese winning entry. Photo courtesy of the Peterborough DBIA.

As this year’s winner, The Vine will receive a cheesy hand-crafted trophy, a sizeable donation to Kawartha Food Share in the restaurant(s) name and bragging rights for the year.

Second place was the El P’s Leek and Pesto Mac and Cheese followed by Crook and Coffer’s Croustade Macaroni au Fromage.

During October, 21 signature mac and cheese dishes were featured on local menus within the downtown restaurant scene for both dine-in and takeout as part of the month-long foodie competition.

Each participating restaurant competed for over 1,000 votes cast to become the Mac + Cheese Champion.

The winning recipe(s) from the previous year’s competition will be available online and a make-at-home recipe curated with local ingredients.

“Every year we see the chefs in our downtown business community take it to the next level and always surprise us with something new, exciting and drool-worthy,” said Amanda Bedford, DBIA marketing and communications coordinator. “We have an unmatchable culinary scene here in Peterborough and we’re so lucky to have that, everyone loves mac and cheese and I already can’t wait to dig into next year’s entries.”

Engage with us on social media on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, Youtube and LinkedIn. Write to us at tips@ptbocanada.com. Sign up for our newsletter here.